And, after 16 years at the club, neither will he change his footballing philosophy and try to park the bus.

“I want to do what gives us the best chance to win games,” he said.

“When you make teams, you cannot go against nature. You cannot play with Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta and say, ‘Look, we only defend’. They would say, ‘What are we doing on the pitch, then?’

“Somewhere, your style is dictated by the players you pick. Sometimes when you don’t win, you have to learn not to lose.

“So you give a bit more ­security to the team and I have done that as well. But still our basic ­philosophy is to attack.”